Monday, August 06, 2012

In the Blink of an Eye

Doctors have their terms for it: amaurosis fugax, Central Retinal Arterial Occlusion, and cerebral embolism is what they say happened.

Putting it plainly: I had a stroke.

It was painless, lasting only about ten minutes whilst sitting at my kitchen table, eating breakfast and reading emails when, without warning, a curtain of darkness fell over my right eye. In an instant I was completely blind in the eye plus my left leg and hand felt numb.

Clearly something was wrong, terribly wrong, but I wasn't sure what.Light returned to my eye but not all the vision. The lower half was reduced to a dark gray blur. Everything above was normal and clear.The eye felt tired, my head felt tired, my whole body felt tired. Although I slept over eight hours and had been awake less than 30 minutes, I layed down and slept for three hours.
Two days later an eye surgeon made his initial diagnosis. A stroke, a cerebral ischemic attack.

Since then I have been examined by two radiologists, a retina surgeon, a cardiologist, and two opthamologists in search of the cause and a plan to manage my recovery.

As of yet, no one has determined exactly from what - nor from where - did the embolism originate.

I don't know when I will return to training but I am determined to run again and finish a road race by the end of this year.

sorry to hear about this. i am not sure if you know i went through a similar situation, just before ironman in 2009, didnt get a diagnosis until after the race, which has since been reversed. From my own experience i can recommend you stay positive, take an active role in your diagnosis and treatment, dont trust anyone absolutely, get a second and third opinion and then decide for yourself. get me off line if you want to chat. stay strong

Well that certainly pops you near the very top of my daily prayer list! Doctors just diagnose and treat...only God can heal. But I'm not just praying for the physical; I'm praying for your spirit to stay up too. I'm sure this is a huge blow, and I know how dedicated you are to training. You've overcome many bumps in the road. This is just a bigger one than most. You'll get over this one too. God bless you, Brian.

Never in a thousand years would I have thought this could happen to you Brian. You are my vision of health and motivation. It's because of this that I know you *will* be running that race - long before the end of the year! Huge, healing prayers going your way.